Ascentador and its founding intellectual property, including its proprietary methodologies, are the co-creation of Chris van Someren and Leon Smith.

Prior to founding Ascentador, Leon had progressed through a series of professional and management positions over more than two decades at global diamond industry leader De Beers, where he was ultimately appointed to serve as Group Human Resources Director. Leon is particularly known for simplifying the way work is organized and for developing uncomplicated business processes to improve talent development and employee productivity. In addition, he served as a trusted advisor to many members of the company's Executive Committee.

An acknowledged expert in talent management consulting, and with nearly three decades in the industry, Chris has direct experience serving clients in more than 35 countries from bases in London, New York and Singapore. A true internationalist and a passionate innovator of the consulting process, Chris brings powerful problem-solving and networking skills to everything he does. Prior to founding Ascentador, Chris held a series of senior management positions with Korn/Ferry International, including leading the historic turnaround of its business in Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Born of the powerful collaboration between Leon and Chris, first as Client/Consultant and later as Colleagues, the Ascentador model, and the team of professionals that deliver it, bring rigorous, impactful, tailor-made solutions for clients across many industries and geographies.

THE WORLD HAS CHANGED.

Economists, Technologists, and insightful
Business Leaders all over the world have recognized that change
is the only constant. Not only are new "centers of gravity"
forming in the world economy - resulting in new markets, new
customers/consumers, and entirely new ways of doing business -
but more companies realize that the formulas and approaches that
led to success yesterday are ineffectual today. Innovation, new
thinking and new perspectives are needed if companies are to
capture emerging opportunity. In order to achieve these ambitious
aims on time and on budget, organizations are turning to external
experts of many types to assist them in staying ahead of the
curve.

At Ascentador, our clients seek our assistance
across a range of talent management issues ranging from
succession planning to team formation/optimization, from
organizational design to restructuring, and from executive
development to talent migration. In each of these arenas, and in
constant recognition of the fact that the world has changed,
Ascentador deploys its diverse team to craft bespoke solutions to
particular problems rather than the "off the shelf",
product-based approach used by competitors.

The market demanded not just that we create a
new Firm, but a new type of firm. Focused on bespoke solutions
crafted for the precise needs of our clients, Ascentador brings
fresh thinking and detailed knowledge to bear in serving our
clients. In the area of executive recruitment, for example,
Ascentador uses a new-to-the-world approach called Talent
Migration. In essence, Talent Migration is a complex process
grounded in knowledge and intellectual rigor which allows
companies to reach for executive talent across geographic,
industry and functional lines in order to acquire new
perspectives and new ways of doing business.

Moving well beyond "the usual suspects", Talent
Migration permits companies large and small to equip themselves
for success in a highly competitive world. Recognizing the
inherent hazard in such out of the box hires, Ascentador uses a
combination of diagnostic, psychological assessment, and
on-boarding tools to de-risk the Talent Migration process and
ensure that both hiring company and placed executive are prepared
to make the most of their relationship.

The Talent Management market has been dominated
by the same big firms for 30 years, each using consultants of
widely varying ability to deliver a rote process that too-often
fails to meet even the most basic client needs. Ascentador
instead relies on powerful, facilitated client interchange in its
proprietary Diagnostic Process to provide the basis for the
solutions it designs, develops and delivers to clients.

As a result, our approach to diagnosis, project
planning, solutions design and speed-of-delivery are second to
none. Ascentador and the success of its solutions are
Partner-driven rather than process-driven. We do not proffer
products off the shelf, but bespoke solutions designed for a
given client with a unique problem at a particular moment in
time. In serving clients, our Partners work not as individual
practitioners, but in well-knit, highly-skilled teams. This
ensures the whole of the Firm's thinking is brought to bear on
every engagement and the solutions we deliver actually work.

CULTURAL

ESTABLISHED INDUSTRY CHARACTERISTICS

Internal competition between Partners to secure engagement.

Compensation systems that reward individual achievement.

New sales valued over delivery.

Candidates viewed as "human capital".

Local mindset.

ASCENTADOR CHARACTERISTICS

Internal cooperation with multi-Partner teams on every

engagement.

Compensation systems that reward group achievement.

Delivery (and repeat business) valued above all.

Candidates viewed as human beings.

Internationally-minded.

ESTABLISHED INDUSTRY CHARACTERISTICS

Organized by Territories/Countries/Offices/Fiefdoms.

Internal hierarchies that thwart creativity and ambition.

Enormous investment in infrastructure.

Fixed pricing structure with no risk-sharing and clear conflict
of interests.

Complex.

ASCENTADOR CHARACTERISTICS

Deployed globally in line with client needs.

Internal culture that believes good ideas can come from anyone.

Enormous investment in the right people.

Fact-based pricing structure with risk-sharing and alignment of

interests.

Straightforward.

ESTABLISHED INDUSTRY CHARACTERISTICS

Distinct, separate offerings with separate fees for each.

Rigid, inflexible delivery model.

Mixed bag of professionals - some outstanding, others less so.

Heavy reliance on database to serve client needs.

Slower.

ASCENTADOR CHARACTERISTICS

Integrated offerings with transparent pricing for the whole.

Delivery model adapted to each unique circumstance.

Exclusively top-tier professionals with proven record of

accomplishment.

Heavy reliance on lifetime of professional relationships to
serve

client needs.

Faster.

SERVICE OFFERING

While the Firm is perhaps best known for its proprietary Talent
Migration offering (that is, the specialized recruitment process
needed to move senior executives from one industry to another or
one international market to another), our Partners design and
deliver solutions that draw on many disciplines including
executive development/coaching, assessment/appraisal, employee
on-boarding/retention, organizational design and development, and
so on. Whatever the need, Ascentador's approach is grounded in
our proprietary Diagnostic Process that ensures upfront
alignment between client-side stakeholders and our team.

In essence, Ascentador blends the strategic skills of a
consulting firm, the specialized knowledge of an organizational
design firm, and the pragmatic urgency of an executive search
firm. The result? Authentic, bespoke talent solutions that
actually work.

Ascentador is fundamentally a Talent
Management firm - experts in blending a revised executive
recruitment model that works across international and industry
boundaries with proven assessment technologies, executive
development programs, on-boarding approaches and other consulting
services. Our aim is to help companies become more competitive
through the use of more creative solutions. As powerful as these
vital solutions are, we also seek to deliver them in a highly
differentiated way, including:

GEOGRAPHICALLY AGNOSTIC:

field the best teams for a particular client on the basis of
relevance and expertise rather than proximity.

BUNDLED SERVICES APROACH:

recruitment, assessment & development capabilities brought to
bear on every assignment.

PROPRIETARY DIAGNOSTIC PROCESS:

grounds all offerings in empirical data, rather than relying
on myopic perspectives.

TOP-TIER, FULLY-ACTUALIZED
VALUES-DRIVEN PROFESSIONALS:

as demonstrated by psychological assessment & deep
referencing.

CLIENT-CENTRIC PRICING MODEL:

fees based on degree of difficulty rather than compensation
level; invoicing tied to performance and delivery milestones,
ensuring efficiency, quality and timeliness.

"SWARM" APPROACH TO DELIVERY:

every engagement staffed by multiple Team members.

RELENTLESS AUTHENTICITY:

no "off the shelf" products, no repetitive approaches; every
engagement treated as unique.

LIGHT ON INFRASTRUCTURE/HEAVY ON
TRAVEL:

focus is on deployment of partners in the market rather than
"office time".

Ascentador operates exclusively on a retained
basis, but uses a clear, client-centric approach to establishing
its fees. The cost for a particular engagement is determined on
the basis of degree-of-difficulty, rather than a percentage of
salary or some other formula. In proposing our fees to our
clients, we first conduct a "Diagnostic Process" so that we
can accurately determine execution hours required, seniority of
the team required, sense of urgency, and the like. This allows us
to ground our proposed fees in logic and reason rather than the
"black box" so common in the industry. Our aim is to propose a
price that will allow us to deliver with speed and quality - the
key elements of delighting any client.

COLLEAGUES

SUE HENLEY

Though Dr. Sue Henley is an independent
Consultant Psychologist, she is nonetheless a vital part of the
Ascentador team and its resident expert in psychological
assessment and testing. One of the most senior and experienced
business psychologists in the United Kingdom, Sue began her
career as an academic (in addition to her doctorate in
Psychology, she holds a Bachelor of Science, the British
Psychological Society's Diploma in Clinical Psychology, and is an
Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society's Diploma
in Clinical Psychology, and is an Associate Fellow of the British
Psychological Society), then spent a period as a Clinical
Psychologist at University College and Great Ormond Street
Hospitals in London.

The turning point in her career came when she
joined SHL, perhaps the world's best known developer of
psychometric instruments, where she was pivotal in expanding the
business and in researching the characteristics of successful
international leaders. This experience led Sue to turn her
professional focus to the world of business, initially as a
partner at Whitehead Mann, then the UK's leading executive search
firm, and subsequently at its executive development and coaching
arm, The Change Partnership.

One of the most
accomplished and sought-after Consultant Psychologists in the
industry, Sue is also a well-known speaker and has presented on
executive assessment and leadership characteristics to
industrial, military, medical, academic and media audiences over
many years. "I am delighted to be an extension of the Ascentador
team and believe that the inclusion of psychological evaluation
in the talent migration process helps to 'de-risk' the process
for clients and executives alike."

CHRIS VAN SOMEREN

Chris van Someren is the Chief Executive and
Founder of Ascentador and an acknowledged expert in talent
management consulting. After more than two decades in the
industry, and with direct experience serving clients in more than
35 countries from bases in London, New York and Singapore, Chris
is a true internationalist, a passionate innovator of the
consulting process and a committed partner to his clients and
colleagues alike. With longstanding client relationships that
span multiple industries and geographies, Chris brings powerful
problem-solving and networking skills to everything he does.

Prior to founding Ascentador, Chris held a
series of senior management positions with Korn/Ferry
International, ultimately driving the history-making turnaround
of that firm's EMEA business, of which he was the President.
Today, Chris leverages both his skills as a successful business
leader and his deep know-how as a management consultant to
deliver Ascentador's proprietary service offering around the
globe.

As Chris says,
"Insightful clients recognize that the old way of doing things
delivers less and less value. Such clients have raised the bar
both in terms of the complexity of their needs and the rigor of
the solutions they require. At Ascentador, we believe the future
belongs to those with the vision and courage to innovate".

ANDREW BAILEY

Andrew Bailey is a founding Partner of
Ascentador, to which he brings a breadth of business experience
in both industry and in professional services. Andrew's
professional skills and appreciation of diverse cultures were
honed by the experience of having lived and worked in Europe, the
Middle East, India, and Southeast Asia.

With a reputation for managing senior-level
relationships and for delivering creative client solutions across
many markets, Andrew is a true internationalist with a deep
understanding of global talent migration and genuine insight into
the leadership issues being faced by multinational clients today.

Prior to joining Ascentador, Andrew was a Senior
Partner in the Singapore office of Korn/Ferry International,
where he was recognized for the quality of his extensive
knowledge of the financial services industry. Before moving into
consulting, Andrew spent sixteen years in investment banking
where he developed his functional expertise in client
relationship management primarily with one of the leading US
institutions.

Today, Andrew draws
upon his "global citizenship" and his aptitude for delivering
innovative solutions to partner with clients across all regions.
As he says, "Talent today is a truly global commodity, and only
those individuals possessing both a strategic and transferable
skill-set, coupled with geographic mobility, can provide the
senior leadership required to address the challenges of a
rapidly-changing business world".

LEON SMITH

Leon Smith co-founded Ascentador and now divides
his time as an independent Partner of the firm and as the
Principal of his own, Africa-focused consulting practice,
Renaissance Talent Solutions. Leon sets himself apart through a
clear understanding of the demands and dynamics of the Boardroom,
and is especially gifted at helping Chief Executives and their
top teams align in support of the business agenda.

Prior to Ascentador, Leon progressed through a
series of professional and management positions over more than
two decades at global diamond industry leader De Beers, where he
was ultimately appointed to serve as Group Human Resources
Director in 2005, a position he held for three years. He is
particularly known for simplifying the way work is organized and
for developing uncomplicated business processes to improve talent
development and employee productivity. In addition, he served as
a trusted advisor to many members of the company's Executive
Committee.

Based in Atlanta, but with extensive
international experience, Christopher Horseman is an independent
Partner who manages engagements that span the executive suite,
with a particular emphasis on the executive recruitment of
general management, senior marketing and related operational
talent. Christopher began his career in a family business serving
the thoroughbred horse industry, personally managing
relationships with key clients at Belmont, Aqueduct and Saratoga
Racetracks. Thereafter, he progressed through a series of
management positions in the retail and real estate sectors before
becoming Director of Retail Operations for a New York-based
winery. In this role, Christopher established the state's only
retail operation dedicated exclusively to the promotion and sale
of New York wines.

In 2001, Christopher joined the world's largest
executive search firm, Korn/Ferry International. There, he
focused on recruiting senior executives for marketing-driven and
consumer-focused companies with a concentration in the
Advertising & Marketing Services, Luxury, and Beverage Alcohol
Industries. A particular focus of his work has been the migration
of Western talent into new and emerging markets worldwide. He
also managed the global execution team for one of the industry's
most productive practices.

Christopher says, "I
take great pride in being on the front line for our clients
around the world and believe that efficient, high quality
diagnosis and delivery is what really separates Ascentador from
its competitors".

CAROLYNE KING

Based in London but with worldwide
responsibilities, Carolyne King is the Business Manager for
Ascentador, and manages the firm's "back office" functions
including Finance, Legal, Human Resources, Technology, Traffic,
as well as all external vendor relationships.

Carolyne was previously with Korn/Ferry
International, the world's largest executive search firm, where
she spent eight years working across various industries including
professional services, financial services, retail & luxury goods
before moving into a more internally focused role assisting the
President, EMEA. Previously, Carolyne worked at a public
accounting firm concentrating on personal wealth management for
high net worth individuals. She began her career as part of a
successful sales and marketing team at a large country house
hotel.

"I strive to bring
the same client-centrism and commitment to excellence to the
internal processes at Ascentador as we bring to our clients and
candidates on the outside", says Carolyne. "Our work in talent
management can only be successful if we deploy our gifted team in
the most efficient way possible, and that is my focus".

ISABELLE MARTIN HOTIMSKY

Isabelle Martin Hotimsky is a Non-Executive
Director of Ascentador and an original, key contributor to the
development of the firm's ideation and solutions development
process. She graduated with a degree in Economics from the
University Libre de Bruxelles in 1978 and won an MBA from
Columbia University in 1981. Isabelle joined JP Morgan in
Brussels as a graduate and continued her career in banking with
Banque Nationale de Paris in Paris, London and New York, focusing
principally on Capital Markets.

In 1992, she joined the London office of
Heidrick & Struggles, the global executive search firm, where she
served as a Partner in Financial Services until 1999. In 2000,
she joined Korn/Ferry International as a Partner following a
brief period as an entrepreneur. In this market-leading firm, she
managed the European Financial Services business and served as a
member of the European Management Committee. Her recruitment
experience has been focused on general management and
non-executive director positions in the financial services
industry but has spanned sectors from investment banking to asset
management.

Isabelle now leads the Not-for-Profit Practice of Veni Partners,
the specialist executive search and advisory firm, but remains of counsel to Ascentador.

CHRISTINE KOETSIER

Christine Koetsier is an independent
Amsterdam-based Partner with extensive international experience.
She is the initiator of and ambassador for regeneration retreats
for female executives from the global business arena. Her main
passion is helping her clients progress. With a lifelong focus on
gender balance, diversity & inclusion, and related services,
Christine is an outspoken specialist for the cause of diversity,
and has a particular expertise in the areas of change & change
management, corporate/business development, executive
development, and general management.

Christine began her career in marketing & sales with a family
owned business before moving to Royal Numico, now part of Danone.
After a stint in the e-commerce industry, she entered the world
of Talent Management in 2001. Since becoming a management
consultant, she has led several Global
Women in Leadership Initiatives, including initiating and
commissioning a research project, Gender Diversity in Corporate
Governance. This ground-breaking study examined the composition,
codes and country practices of Boards of Directors in France,
Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom and led to
the publication of the First
100 Women Industry Index by Erasmus University Rotterdam.

Married with three sons in addition to her career,
Christine knows the challenges of work/life balance first-hand.
As Christine says, "At Ascentador we seek to remember the 'human'
aspect of human resources and to carry out our projects with
sensitivity to the way our work impacts not just careers, but
people's lives."

CANDIDATES

Though not all solutions include an executive
recruitment component, many projects do. As such, we pride
ourselves on our responsiveness, accessibility and candor to
candidates, and what's more, we are especially interested in the
"mosaic backgrounds" of candidates who have worked in multiple
geographies, industries or functions.

To share your background with us, please click
the white box below to upload your CV or resume. By following
this procedure, you can become visible to everyone on the
Ascentador Team, and will likely be contacted in the near term in
order for us to understand your ambitions and aims more deeply.

We never share your information outside
Ascentador without your explicit permission, and have taken care
to safeguard your information as it resides in our systems.

CORROBORATORS

Perhaps the best way to understand Ascentador is to hear the voices of those who have direct experience of our Team and Model. We are proud to provide a selection of those here.

If you have any comments or questions, please fill in the contact
form below and you will be contacted via e-mail.

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CONTACT

Rather than being tied to a static network
of offices, Ascentador Partners spend the majority of our time with
clients and candidates around the world, working shoulder to
shoulder to solve business problems and leveraging our
international experience. That said, you can reach us via Reception
in any of our hubs, as listed below.